[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Descartes Systems Group (Nasdaq:DSGX) (TSX:DSG), the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that C1000, one of the largest retailers in the Netherlands, is using Descartes‘ new Validation Service. The service enhances C1000’s purchase-to-pay process by improving the accuracy of the data flowing through its supply chain.

For many years, C1000 and Descartes have closely cooperated with the aim of optimizing C1000‘s EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) process. However, C1000’s supply chain challenges go beyond just EDI. As explained by Edward Heijnen, Supply Chain Manager at C1000, “It is much more important to look at the supply-chain process as a whole. In other words, what are the current problems and how can these be fixed? Every week, we receive around 2,500 EDI messages which contain errors. Looking into this always took a great deal of time and that was one of the reasons why we wanted to improve the process. In Descartes, we've found a partner who can really anticipate our needs, and who has the right expertise to guarantee that the right technical solution is taken.”

Descartes Validation Service allows EDI messages to be validated both syntactically and as content. Upon receipt, EDI messages are checked against the GS1 standards, the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world, and the parameters which the individual customer wishes to use. Different retailers can use different parameters. Any EDI messages which do not fulfill these requirements are subsequently rejected and then automatically returned with an indication of all the errors in question.

The service‘s reporting functionality makes it straightforward to find out how an EDI partner is performing. This allows retailers to eliminate errors in collaboration with their suppliers. C1000 expects the final error reduction rate to be 90%. By using Descartes’ Validation Service, C1000 is now able to proactively respond to problems which might arise as error messages in its back-office system. This saves C1000 a great deal of time and also improves its relationship with suppliers and the level of service which it offers its shops.

“We have been able to develop this service thanks to brilliant collaboration with C1000,” said Fred van der Heide, Vice President of Product Strategy at Descartes. “Translating the customer's needs to the new service was an interesting challenge. In this respect, we developed the service so that it can also be used for other customers, irrespective of what their back-office environment is like. The service is made up of various different modules and customers are able to choose the ones they need. We look forward helping other leading retailers with this new solution.”